Kagome's Mission
by CayaC
Summary: Kagome and the gang has won against Naraku, and it is time for Kagome to say goodbye to her friends and return to her time. Or so she thought. Instead she wakes up in another world, learning the truth about her identity and gets a new mission that decides the fate of the Youkai.


Chapter 1 –

The new mission –

Kagome –

She looked at her friends, both smiling and in tears. They had finally defeated Naraku after all these years. After all this pain, sadness and frustration it was finally over. But it was over in more ways than one. Firstly, her and Inu-Yasha was not going to happen. They both knew that. He was still to caught up in Kikyo and the loss of her. She could still remember that moment. The moment she got her soul back. It was painful. Painful in a strange way. She had never felt pain like that before. Not even when her soul was taken from her. Kagome snapped out of the memory. It wasn't something she would like to dwell on, and specially not now when saying goodbye to her friends. A voice in the jewel told her to travel trough the well, to get to the place where she belonged. This happened just before the jewel disappeared, after wishing it out of existence. For some reason, she didn't question the request, or order… or whatever it was.

Kagome looked at Sango and Miroku who was standing, hand in hand, both with tears in their eyes. She approached them with open arms

"I will miss you both so much…" she gave them both a fierce hug, not wanting to let go.

"But I have to go back to where I belong" She let them go, but took both of their hands in hers

"I wish you both a long and happy life together with many children…" Sango blushed at the mention of children, causing Miroku to smirk teasingly and the rest of the group laughed

"I hope for Sango's sake and all of the women in the world that you only get girls!" Inu-Yasha teased. Shippou was laying on the ground, hamming his fist into the ground, laughing hard

"A perfect punishment for a womanizer like Miroku, having to fend of his own kind from getting to his daughters" Kagome added laughing. Miroku's smirk vanished quickly and they could see him starting to visualize the scenario before him, and it was clear as day that he did not like what he was seeing, which only made everyone laugh even harder, this time Sango joining in.

Kagome wiped the tears of her cheek from all the laughing, and watched the scene before her. She was really going to miss all of them. And not just them, but every friend she had made in this time-line. Kagome smirked, even Sesshoumaru she caught herself thinking. The last couple of months, he had been a constant presence in their group. Totally focused on killing Naraku, and humiliating Inu-Yasha, though that was probably more of a side-bonus, since he needed her and her friends and he knew it. But at that time, he mostly kept to himself, and she had been to focused on Inu-Yasha and all the drama that followed in being involved with him, namely Kikiyo and her constant pursuit in taking Inu-Yasha down and then Naraku. The last straw had been when Kikiyo had tried to kill Kagome, and almost succeeding, but Inu-Yasha still went after her. That was when Kagome knew that she wasn't his first priority… or second. And that it could just never work. He was too immature. He kind of caught on to it before the final battle, and that finalized the dramatic, almost love-story that never got the chance to start. Kagome looked at Inu-Yasha with warmth. They may not be a couple, but they will always be friends. They had been through so many hardships together, that they would always have a bond between them. A non-Kikyo related bond. Inu-Yasha stopped laughing when he saw Kagome looking at him with tears streaming down her cheeks, but with a big smile on her face. She threw herself into his arms, hugging him like there was no tomorrow

"It will be hard not to see you every day. Not to argue with you every day" Kagome chuckled and sniffed

"It's funny what you become accustom to and don't want to let go of" She let go of him and looked at him

"Please learn to control your anger. I am no longer there to mediate or help in anyway…" She teasingly hit his shoulder

"I would want for you to get married and grow old, and not getting killed because you couldn't control your temper" Her friends chuckled and Inu-Yasha just laughed and scratched his head

"No promises" His face became a little more sad

"Say goodbye to Sota and your mom and grandpa from me… even that rotten creature in your house.. you know… the cat..." Kagome hugged him again

"Will do". Kagome took a deep breath, this one was going to be extra hard, and had to be handled carefully. Kagome knelt down, looking at Shippou. She couldn't get herself to smile in front of him. That just seemed… mean…

"Shippou…" she didn't get to continue before Shippou had thrown himself into her embrace

"Please don't go…" she heard him sob in her ear. This was breaking her heart, and she almost changed her mind, but the memory of that voice, telling her she was going to where she belonged, kept appear in her mind, and every fiber in her body told her to listen. Not to ignore it. Her father used to say to trust her instincts. So far it had gotten her here. No regrets, and full of happiness. And if her instincts told her to do so, then so she would. She had to believe it was for the best.

"I am so so sorry sweetheart. I really am. I love you so much, but this is something I have to do, and…" she moved a bit so she could look him in the eyes, so that he could see how serious she was

"Come find me in 500 years. Come find me then, and I promise we will be together again" Shippou stopped shedding tears, and now he looked at her, like he was searching for something

"You promise?" Kagome couldn't help but give him a small warm smile

"I promise" once again Shippou jumped into her embrace, hugging her tightly

"I promise I will find you in 500 years from today!" he exclaimed with much excitement. Kagome hugged him back, chuckling

"Thank you". They let go of each other and Kagome got up. She looked at her friends, then at the well, then back at her friends.

"I love all of you" she said before getting up on the well. She swung her legs in. She was about to jump when she sensed something in the woods. She looked in direction, but nothing came out or moved. She shrugged it off and looked back into the well, and then she let go and jumped down, into the colorful portal that took her away from her friends.

* * *

The first thing she felt when she became conscience again was a pounding headache. The next thing she felt was grass, and then the wind on her face… wait… grass? Wind? Her eyes quickly opened, but she instantly regretted it and closed them. The brightness had hurt her eyes… why? And what the hell was going on? She tried to open her eyes again, this time slowly. The first thing she saw was the overwhelming light, but to her relief, her eyes seemed to quickly adjust to it, though she couldn't figure out what made her so light-sensitive in the first place.

"So... you are awake?" the sound made her jump up, causing her to stand and panickily look around to find the source

"Calm down girl, no reason to panic" Kagome kept looking around until something in front of her started to materialize. She started to become more and more white in the face, because she was pretty sure she was seeing a ghost. The… "person" was floating above ground, greyish in color, but the blood oozing out from his many different wounds was its original color, and that made it difficult to take her eyes off of it, even though she wanted to look away so badly

"I know, not a beautiful sight, my apologizes… Had I known this would be my appearance after death, then I would have chosen to be killed differently" he said this looking at her with a straight face. She didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Laugh at his… tasteless joke or cry out of frustration of not knowing what was going on, but before she got to react, the ghost spoke again, seeming a little uncomfortable

"Hehe, I am sorry, humor is my way to cope…" Kagome cut him off before he started to ramble about his life story, which she felt was coming

"I am sorry to interrupt Mr…. Ghost, but I have no idea what is happening right now… Is this a dream? Or did I die? What happened? The last thing I remember is saying goodbye to my friends and then jumping through the portal to get back to my time, then pain…" Kagome stopped herself, realizing what she had just said. Pain? She had never felt pain when she had gone through the portal before, so why did she feel it this time?

"I don't know what made you stop, but I can answer your questions. No, this is not a dream, and no, you did not die…" Kagome stopped her stream of thoughts and confusion and looked at the ghost

"but then what? Why am I here?... Wherever here is…" she looked around, taking in the scene for the first time and it blew her away. She had been so focused on her panic and the ghost that she hadn't had the opportunity to take the surroundings in yet. The sky was blue… not just blue, but… she didn't know how to describe it. She had never seen the sky so blue before. It kind of reminded her of the crystal-blue waters in Okinawa, but it still could not compare. The grass was greener, the dirt was browner, the flowers more vibrant. Every color seemed… to have been intensified in a way she could not describe. It had to be experienced. The ghost looked at her, seemingly aware of what was happening

"It's the transformation" Kagome's gaze snapped back to the ghost

"Transformation?" she kind of hated that word. It doesn't necessarily mean something good, and 'transformations' are never simple processes. Just look at Spiderman in the comics! In one of them he actually ends up transforming into a spider, no longer being a human… most of his enemies are humans transformed into some kind of mutant-animal being. No wonder she would connect the word as something negative. And the ghost just has the audacity to smile at her! She started to feel her blood boil

"Yes! It was halted for some time because of the whole 'missing a piece of your soul'-thing, which wasn't in the plans at all, your transformation being halted like that is definitely not good for the process, which you know or…" Kagome held up her hand, red-faced with frustration and anger

"Would you please stop talking to me like I already know what is going on, when I obviously don't! And! What the hell do you mean about transformation and plans? You can't just throw that word out there without any explanation…" this time the ghost copied Kagome's hand gesture, stopping her ranting

"My apologizes. I am used to be in the presence of beings who know everything I know… A bad side effect of the business I guess…" he had a sad look in his eyes, with a small smile that only made it seem even sadder. He 'sat' down on the grass, or sitting on air, floating above ground, or whatever you will call it, gesturing for her sit as well, which she did, and he continued

"The reason you are here, and not back in your time is, we are in need of your help" he looked at her seriously when saying this. Kagome became a bit uncomfortable… she had a feeling she wasn't going to like whatever would be said next

"We have been watching you ever since the jewel was burnt in the flames with the priestess Kikiyo's body those many years ago. In fact, it was them who send the jewel into your body, sealing your true self away for your protection…" he halted his speech to look at her reaction, but Kagome was just starring at him, with no expression on her face

"Proceed" she just said without emotion. She didn't know what to think of this. Maybe it was a mentally unstable ghost whom was lost, and so she really was dead? Or maybe the ghost was messing with her… so many thoughts went through her head, so she decided to just hear him out, and wait with the decision-making.

"Well… here is where is gets a little complicated and I am just the messenger, so please bear with me…" Kagome just continued to stare at him, waiting for something to make sense, since nothing has since she opened her eyes.

"By true self, as stated earlier, I mean that the you that you know is not the real you or the whole you… do you follow me?" he asked quite flustered

"Just continue" it almost came out as a sigh.

"The jewel needed protecting, and you needed protecting, so they came up with the idea to infuse the jewel into you, and use it as a seal to hide your true identity, and to hide the jewels existence. You were then put into a human family, thousands of years away from your original time…" that was where Kagome stopped him

"Stop. What the hell do you mean about that last part you just stated?" up until this point she had just kind of ignored what he had been saying, thinking it to be crazy talk, but then it just became… outrageous... he was basically saying that her family wasn't really her family

"What do you mean 'they' put me into the care of humans? Are you saying my family isn't my family? Then who are? And who are 'they'? you keep referring to 'them'…" she stopped. Wanting to give him a chance to answer before she would continue. The ghost kind of got an annoying look on his face and then he pointed upwards, towards the sky

"'They' are the creators of everything. They are the architects of everything we are and everything you see around you, and for one of their children they decided to intervene in human and youkai affairs when it was agreed amongst them never to do that again, but for you and the jewel and now for the upcoming events, they have decided to something, but they can't do it without your help…" the ghost held up his hand to stop Kagome from speaking

"You are not _their_ child in the sense your believe it to be, but in the sense they created you. Youkai's are the offspring of the creators. A total of 6 children were born between the creators, and they created your world for these children to inhabit, and other minor youkai species and humans so that they could continue the bloodline. The 6 children each claimed land as their own and ruled them, each in their own way with the promise that their parents would never intervene in their children's affairs. The Wolf King of the North, The Dog King of the West, The Cat King of the East, The Dragon King of the South, The Phoenix Queen of the Sky Kingdom and The Fox Queen of the Central Kingdom" Kagome was now completed sucked in, listening to every word. She had always wondered about the youkai's origins, but from what he was telling, the creators not only created the youkai but everything… that was a lot to take in… the ghost was a messenger of the gods that created her… her friends… everything she was seeing… completely mind-blowing…

"And what role do I have in all of this? What help do the creators need from me, that they can't do themselves? I mean… they are all so… mighty and powerful, there shouldn't really be anything they couldn't do, should there?" the ghost, or messenger smiled, seemingly holding in a chuckle

"As I said, an agreement was made, they can't intervene in human or youkai affairs… but you can. You are more spiritual, and are of a more direct and purer bloodline to the creators than any of the youkai's living today, and since they saved your bloodline so many generations ago, they had already established a contact with you, or a bond so to speak by breaking their word of involvement. They believed it to be a necessity, since you were the only one left of your line, and they couldn't bear for one of their children's bloodlines to run out. But your 'race' was greatly hated, envied and sought after at the time because of your unique abilities, and I am sorry, but that is all I can say on the subject, since I wasn't told everything myself. Just because they know everything I know; doesn't mean I know everything they know…." He let out a sigh

"Look… This must be very frustrating for you, and I might not be making it easy either, but all in all, they need you again for a new mission. You have proved with Naraku, and your interaction with youkais that you are the right one for the job" that all familiar feeling of frustration was returning, because he was taking his sweet time to provide answers, but she could see it wasn't easy for him either. She sighed in defeat, ruffling her hair frustrated, before taking a deep breath and looked at the ghost-messenger

"Okay, so from what I have gathered so far; Somehow for some reason, I was taken from my real time, which is apparently thousands of years ago, because I am an endangered species of youkai, and somehow the jewel has kept that fact hidden so far, and what… the jewel getting yanked out of my body broke the seal?..." the ghost-messenger nodded

"…missing a piece of my soul halted the transformation, and then what? I got the missing piece back? Does that mean the transformation has begun, and what does that mean… let us start with that…" Kagome was imagining all kinds of things because of that word 'transformation'. Maybe she shouldn't have seen all that science – fantasy stuff in tv.

"You are completely right, I was worried I had lost you somewhere in all the information…" Kagome suppressed a snort

"… but yes, your transformation has begun, which is why your sight might have changed a bit…" Kagome yanked up straight, looking around. She had completely forgotten about that. She had adjusted to her new eyesight so quickly that she hadn't even noticed. But now that she thought about it, the colors were still intense and beautiful… otherworldly…

"What else will happen?" Kagome was hoping she would become more of a Sesshoumaru type of youkai, humanoid appearance with the ability to turn into the true youkai they are, and not go completely bird. He looked at her with sympathy… wait sympathy? Now Kagome was starting to panic

"You will experience great pain. In order to protect you, the jewel sealed away everything about you that was youkai… only your human side stayed. To compensate for the loss of your other self, the jewel apparently tried to 'heal' you, by infusing some of its pure energy into you, causing you to posses miko-like abilities, but you were never really a miko. But now that the jewel is no longer in your body, sealing that other part of you, it will come back, slowly, since your body cannot cope it yet. It cannot cope with suddenly become stronger, your bones becoming denser, your senses sharper. Your body _and_ soul have to undergo a transformation to become whole again, and it is a complicated process… It will start to hurt more and more the closer you get to the full transformation…. I am sorry that you have to hear this… go through this…" Kagome wasn't really paying much attention to what he said after the part about the hurt… She had felt that strange pain when she got the rest of soul back, and then in the well… then her eyes. She was snapped out of it by the ghost-messenger

"Just know it will have an end. It will lead to you finally being whole again. I hope you can think about that when the painful periods come… but there is something more pressing we have talk about, we have already been talking for longer than we were supposed to… it's the mission I mention earlier" Kagome wanted to protest at first, but he had already stated that he couldn't give her more information about her true background, and everything else about her identity he had already answered, so she would at least hear him out about this mission

"Yes you mentioned that, so let's hear it" The ghost-messenger coughed to clear his throat, causing some of the blood in his neck wound to splash out. Kagome almost gagged at the sight

"From the observations they have made from your trips to your time, they discovered the lack of youkai, and as you can imagine, this caused quiet the concern" Kagome nodded in agreement. Even though she had encountered very few youkai in her time, they had all been sealed away for a long time and was only freed because of the jewels influence. She had always wondered what had happened to them. If they really had been alive in her time, then why hadn't she met Shippou earlier in her time when she was time-traveling back and forth? Or a descendant of Shippou's or Inu-Yasha's?

"They figured out what happened" Kagome said it as a statement, and not as a question. The ghost-messenger nodded, but painfully. He had a hard time looking her in the eye

"I seem to be the cause. I started the 'butterfly-effect' as you call it in your time. An action I did in the past, set in motion a deep hatred and prejudice that ends up killing all youkai, and this is what became of me because of it… a fitting punishment I know…" Kagome was sitting there with a shocked expression, at first her mouth completely open in shock, and she was completely speechless. This guy was the reason for the extinction of youkai? How? Why? She had so many questions but it didn't seem like she was able to say them. Her silence only seemed to torture the ghost-messenger even more, but then he got a determined look on his face

"I might not be able to take it back, not matter how bad I want to, and I can't give you any details of my involvement, but I will help you in any way that I can on this mission. To help you succeed. Your mission will be to help all the youkai enter this new world that the creators have made for the youkai to start over" Kagome made a sound, that was a mix of a grunt and of a sound of disbelief

"ALL of the youkai? Me? First of all, I am still human. You said it was a pressing matter, and gathering them all in a short amount of time is impossible for a human. Even if I have connections with some youkai, doesn't mean I will be able to connect with all of them… that they will listen to me. How am I going to explain that this is about their survival when I don't know when it is happening, why it is happening, and who is doing it to them? Humans? With what? Guns and…" Kagome stopped herself… It was possible. Around 1560 guns became popular in warfare in Japan. And from Kagome's estimates, Inu-Yasha's timeline was around early 1500. So that was it? The massive warfare that started after 1560 was actually the war between youkai and humans? There must have been something more… guns are on another level of warfare, but it couldn't really be enough to make the youkai lose… Kagome sensed something was missing "What else can you tell me about this mission? Any tips regarding where to start? Whom exactly is the enemy? Why don't we just stop that group of people before its to late?" The ghost-messenger shook his head

"'They' have estimated that this would happened no matter what anyway at some point. But by knowing when and how it happens, we are able to make preparations. 'They' don't want humans to win or youkai to kill all humans, so this is the best plan they came up with. By separating them. Youkai do not need humans anymore as they once did" Kagome nodded. She could see the logic in that

"Then where is the base in this place? Where exactly am I supposed to lead them?" Kagome looked around to spot any kind of settlement, but couldn't see anything other than grass and trees.

"Well, there is no 'base' or settlement yet…"

"What?! You have got to be kidding me!" Kagome threw her arms up in frustration

"What do you expect me to do? I am dead? I can't build a house even if I wanted to, and they aren't going to click their fingers together and then magically have houses made. 'That's youkai business' I was told" he was saying the last part in a mockingly tone and looking up, as if trying to scold the creators. Kagome let out another sigh… which seemed to be happening a lot today. She kept shaking her head in disbelief. It was so much information to take in. Her head didn't even know where to start. She would probably never see her family again, which turns out is not her real family, this ghost-messenger caused a tragedy, or will cause it, She, apparently is a Phoenix youkai, a rare one or whatever, and then there was this mission… Kagome stamped her hands down hard to the ground, not minding the pain, it was kind of a relief, a distraction… that was it… She decided to focus on one thing at a time. Otherwise she would be experiencing a mental meltdown. She got to her feet determined

"Okay, we have a lot of work ahead of us. First, take me to the portal or whatever that gets me to where I am supposed to be" the ghost-messenger got up and gestured to direction in front of him. They started to walk

"On the way, I will explain what we are going to do, and then you are going to tell me every little detail you can about this mission as you can, so that I can be fully prepared" He nodded and then Kagome started to lay out the first steps of her plan.

* * *

**Hope you enjoyed the chapter!**


End file.
